Advice needed.

[qbol]

ahh, my 2 days before initial posting are finally over =)

Hello everone.

I'm slowly going nuts on trying to make a DVD and i really could use some advice. I've read lots of forum posts before this post so please don't assume i'm just too lazy to read. I rarely ask for help in forums, now i really need it.

what i'm doing (trying):
a DVD presentation of my work (portfolio style) that i will be sending to lots of places, so high compatibility is the issue. the project has about 7 min of video (250mb), i fill up the rest with a dummy.dat file in the root to make up to the 1gb barrier, i use Nero compatibility mode, but it won't fill up 1gb, so i do it manually (bug ?)

my gear:
Samsung TS-H542A, latest firmware: 05
(https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDname=ts-h542a&Submit=Search&cdrs=&cdrws=&dv...&Search=Search)

Verbatim Datalife DVD-R 8x Media (https://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia.php?selectmedia=1805#comments)

LG-6194 Set Top DVD Player
(https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=2651&Search=Search&#comments)

The Problem:
stuttering on my LG DVD player. xbox and pc playback work fine. i know that my player has a really BAD dvd drive and has real trouble with scratched dvd's, but still it's driving me insane since i want it to work at as many places as possibile.

things i tried:
stuttering can come from: VBR peaks, usually from too high burning speeds or bad media. the stuttering got a LOT better when burning 2x instead of 4x (never tried 8x, 1x doesn't work with this media) and at one point it even completely was gone, but i'm assuming it was a coincidence, since it's back again, very slight.

my datarate is low, i tried VBR 5.5 (max 8 ), then VBR 4.5 (max 5.5), and then i heard that CBR is better if the ammount of footage is not an issue, since the set top player cannot choke on VBR spikes, so now i have CBR 6, Dolby 224. same problem.

Burning software:
Nero 6.6.0.6, DVD-Video. after reading some posts i just recently tried making an ISO with ImgTool Classic, then burning with DVD Decryptor (SPTI Interface) - the problem remains.

I'm lost now. You see, I've tried the DVD on PS2 and a Sony player, they worked fine, and I'm not really making the DVD for myself, so I can live with it stuttering on my LG-6194 and just praying that this is a shitty player, I mean on that player even the intro video is out of sync (rest is fine synced) -- so what's your advice ?
I have quality media, i burn lowest speed, i tried different burning apps, tried very low VBR and CBR... then again i burned to a TDK DVD+R, worked perfect, but as mentioned, the DVD isn't for myself and i still think Verbatim DVD-R is generally quite compatible.

what sould i do ?
- new media ?
- new burner ?
- forget about my DVD player, since i'm already doing everything to make it as compatible as possibile.

help ?

thank you for your time.

[qbol]

i did some more tests, i tried 3MBit CBR, and still the stuttering remains. so i think i can exclude it being the bitrate....

any hints on this subject ?

thx.